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NORTH SALT LAKE — Among the things a lot of us love to do is show off our activities on Facebook and sometimes that can get us in trouble.
Police say they were able to catch up with a very busy graffiti tagger because he kept an online photo album of his work.
The pictures were fairly easy to match in more than a couple dozen instances. Thanks in part to that unique tag, this investigation quickly moved online where police say one man shared his private graffiti photo album with an undercover cop.
Marija Restaurant and Pizza was one of the targets. Owner Veselka Juric says she enjoys working at her business and is glad the culprit was caught.
"So we really don't like it. Whoever did it. I don't like it," Juric said. "I put a lot of money in this business."
As a graffiti artist, it appears that he was pretty proud of his work.
–Sgt. Mitch Gwilliam
The Croatian immigrant says several nearby businesses have also been tagged by graffiti. Police have identified the man as 20 year-old Matthew Quinn Todakonzie.
"Ten to 20 from one individual," said Sgt. Mitch Gwilliam. "So this is quite a number for North Salt Lake specifically."
By searching online for the tagged phrase "hokes", detectives found a private MySpace page. The profile shows a man with his face covered up and the tag behind him.
"As a graffiti artist, it appears that he was pretty proud of his work," Gwilliam said.
Todakonzie's work was perhaps best shown on a Facebook page, where according to an arrest affidavit, he kept a private photo gallery titled "Graffiti".
And after detective sent a friend request through a fake profile, Todakonzie accepted.
"Yes, I want to bake him a pizza, and say 'don't do that anymore.'" Veselka Juric, owner of Marija Restaurant and Pizza
"They want to be recognized to a certain extent, for their work," Gwilliam said. "They are generally speaking, very proud of what they do."
And it was that pride that led to an arrest, thanks to more than 150 photos posted online.
"I think that's a real stupid idea to do it," Juric said.
She says she's glad the alleged neighborhood tagger is behind bars and that she'd like to ask him nicely to change his ways.
"Yes, I want to bake him a pizza, and say 'don't do that anymore,'" Juric said.
Todakonzie was booked into the Davis County Jail on a about a dozen counts each of criminal mischief and trespassing. There might be a few more possible charges, coming out of Woods Cross.
